Dipper's Guide to Deadly Dragons
by Nightstar Phoenix
Summary: [post-HTTYD; post-Into The Bunker pre-NWHS] Generations after Hiccup, his dragon secludes himself in the forest near the sleepy town of Gravity Falls. Unfortunately for Toothless, nothing stays hidden long when the Mystery Twins are on the case! [Pairing-Free]
1. Prologue: How to Break a Dragon's Heart

A/N: HI! IM NOT DEAD!

You know how you've read that "oh I shouldn't have started a new fic but here's this" at the top of someone else's fic? And you kind of shrug it off cause it doesn't really bother you like write whatever you want man I'm just glad I get to read this. But like. Now I understand. unggghh. Oh well. Here's this for all those who will shrug it off.

As a heads up, IF I decide to continue, this will become "audience interactive;" y'all can send requests and that junk. That'll be explained later, if I decide to continue. More on that later as well. Thanks for your time!

Disclaimer: I don't own zilch. The dragon is Dreamworks' and the kids are Disney's. Also I hope to write in lots of references to the books so that'd be Cressida Cowell. And a Happy Birthday to Alex Hisch (creator of Gavity Falls) and his sister Ariel!

* * *

There was a cliff on the coast of Berk where the boy and the dragon sat and watched the sun set over the sea. The boy dangled his feet over the edge, over the expanse of water far below him. The dragon lounged beside him. They were the kings of this world, and the setting of the sun promised a new dawn in only twelve short hours.

The boy's name was Hiccup, and he called the dragon Toothless.

Hiccup was a Viking. He was young and, as of this evening, content. Sure that there would be no more fighting, the war had been won, and he and his dragon were alive and free. They did not make it out of battle unscathed– no one does– but he could live with that. Now that he had fixed the world around him, he could begin to mend as well, and adjust to walking with a prosthetic leg. Toothless had learned to fly with a replacement tail fin; if Toothless could learn to fly again, Hiccup could learn to walk.

The years flew by, on the dragon's wings. The boy Hiccup grew up into a man, and not only learned to walk again, but to soar alongside his dragon.

They sat on the edge of the cliff, the sea ablaze with the sun's fire. Hiccup thought he would never want to grow up, but it was, of course, not optional. What the dragon understood and did not understand, he did not know; he did know that Toothless would be by his side wherever he went.

And the years kept flying by. The man became a lover, a husband. Astrid, divine beauty, would join them to sit and watch the sunset, with her dragon Stormfly. Then the four of them became five; Hiccup became a father, Astrid a mother. And that child grew, became a brother, and became a man in his own time. Hiccup's hair turned from its copper-red to snow-white. And still Toothless remained Toothless, perhaps stronger now, perhaps a little wiser, but ever the dragon he was.

From that cliff he watched each of the burning ships, carrying the humans he loved to their rest in the light of the dying sun.

He watched the dying sun for a long time. He was the last to sit there in the evenings. For the dragons were leaving, crawling back into the sea from whence they came, leaving not a bone, not a fang in the earth for the men of the future to remember them by. Toothless himself felt an itching to leave, but not to the water; his heart drew him to the sky, to fly far away, to discover a new land, like his Hiccup loved to do.

One day he did it. He did not need to take anything, for a dragon does not need belongings to survive. His tail-fin, crafted by Hiccup, had been made so that Toothless could fly on his own when the Viking began to grow old. One could suppose that this counted and a belonging. The only thing he did take with him was Hiccup's book, his Dragon Book.

He flew through sunset after sunset, and through blasting typhoons and long, scorching hot days. His wings grew tired, but he flew on. He flew to island after island, and over miles of waves. He wasn't sure what he was looking for, but he would search until the end of his days. Perhaps he would fly off the edge of the world and find Hiccup there.

Finally he came to an island that was not an island at all; it was vast, with rows of trees and mountains stretching out as far as the dragon could see. He did not stop when he reached the shore, but kept flying, this time over land.

He sat and watched the sunset through the leaves of trees, the setting of the sun foretelling yet another day after a long twelve hours of darkness. The dragon watched the stars come out, their light guiding him to a cave. He was so tired, he felt he could sleep for decades. Centuries. This was not uncommon for dragons, though it bothered Toothless how much he might miss. Still, he had had a long journey, and, with his weary wings wrapped around him, he drifted into a dreamless sleep.


	2. Chapter 1: Dipper the Useless

A/N: So, just to be clear, this takes place AFTER the HTTYD movies and in an AU of Gravity Falls that branches off from canon after "Into the Bunker" (so around the beginning of S2). We good? Good. Will probably update this every two weeks.. does that sound ok? I have one more chapter written and I'll be gone next week for reasons so this works out I guess.

Disclaimer: I'm getting really tired of saying that I don't own this. I guess I could use this as a place to say kudos to DreamWorks, Alex Hirsch, and Cressida Cowell for writing characters that stuck with me and inspired me. Ikik its sappy we'll move on now.

* * *

A walk through the forest of Gravity Falls on a hot summer day was anything but peaceful, at least to Dipper. Even before he had discovered the journal detailing the abnormal creatures and happenings in the town he had felt like he was being watched. He still felt that way, but now he knew it was rational it didn't scare him as much. Most of the things he would find in here, he knew he could handle; and if not, he would wing it and consult the journal later.

On this day he was alone, which was unusual for him, as he and his twin sister Mabel had been near inseparable their whole lives. But today Mabel was with her friends, and Dipper was left to wander the forest on his own. He didn't mind; it was good that she'd made friends. Neither of them had many friends back home. This summer had been good for them.

It hadn't been devoid of problems, though; if you knew even half of what Dipper knew about Gravity Falls, you wouldn't be surprised. Just this past month he and Mabel had had to deal with an army of gnomes, a lake monster (though technically that had turned out to be a robot built by the local kook), a vengeful child psychic, and cursed wax figures that came to life and attempted to kill them.

And all this– and apparently everything that happened in Gravity Falls the rest of the year round– he had thought had taken place right under the nose of their great uncle. There were times when this had frustrated Dipper to hysterics; in Gravity Falls, the weirdest town in America, Grunkle Stan still believed that the twins had fantastical imaginations. No matter how often Dipper had offered to bring back something really abnormal to the Mystery Shack, their grunkle's tourist trap, he had been waved off. This was proven to have been a lie too, though, when Dipper had accidentally raised the dead and caused zombies to attack the Mystery Shack a week ago.

So he trudged through the forest today, with more thoughts swimming around his head than a twelve-year-old boy needed.

He wasn't wandering purposelessly. The encounter with his uncle earlier that morning, as well as his sister's suggestion of "conquering his fears," were still fresh in his mind. Well, what were some of the things he was afraid of in here? Well, that gremloblin was pretty scary, but he knew he could best that. What was something in here he hadn't met yet, something that struck fear in him from the moment he opened the page? The answer, he found, was the Giant Vampire Bats.

He wasn't particularly afraid of bats, not on an oh-heavens-I-hope-I-don't-find-a-bat-in-my-closet-today sort of way. But... Yeah, it was a start. So he had straightened his cap and headed into the forest, with a clear-ish destination.

The closer and closer he got to the cave marked on the map, though, the more nervous he grew. Not nervous enough to turn back– at least, not yet– but nervous enough to bring anxiety to his mind. In retrospect, this probably wasn't as good an idea as he had thought.

But now, there is was. The mossy mouth of a cave sticking up out of the ground, black as night. He stood by a tree nearby for a while, not daring to take another step. This was a bad idea, this was a bad idea, _such_ a terrible idea. He took a deep breath... and a step closer.

And another.

And another.

And before his head had agreed he was already turning his flashlight on and ducking into the cave.

The thing about caves, one must remember, is that you can never be sure how far back they go. The might twist and turn like a labyrinth, snaking underneath mountains and forests, and it is easy to become very very lost very very fast. Dipper hadn't been thinking of this when he entered, but with every step he took a warning screamed in the back of his head as the tunnel ceiling got higher and he could stand up straight. _Turn around_ , his head told him as the air grew colder. _Turn around_. Finally his nerves got the better of him. He whipped around, Expecting to skitter right out of the cave and into daylight again. But the beam of his light hit a stone wall.

His stomach suddenly felt heavy as panic seized him. He remained perfectly still and silent, blinking the dark out of his eyes as his internal screaming grew more frantic. After several minutes of mindless panicking, he took several deep breaths. Nothing left to do but to find the way out.

He spun around slowly, his flashlight shaking in his hands. There were three paths to take. The first one clearly sloped downward. The second and third looked like legitimate routes, but which one he had come from he could not recall. He walked up to each one, listening. Both were silent as death. One, though, felt warmer than the other. It had been a warm day outside, he reasoned, so this must lead to the surface.

 _Oh that was flawed_ , he thought as he walked through the tunnel for a while, _Flawed, flawed logic_. He turned around to go back, then paused to wait for his knees to stop shaking.

That was when he felt a presence behind him, an enormous presence looming just a few feet away. Fear taking control, he spun around, eyes wide, to catch a glimpse of what he had just came face to face with.

It was not a bat, that much was sure. It has the head of a black, scaly salamander, with poison-green eyes and slits for pupils, and it began to make a reptilian growl in the back of its throat. The one word that came to Dipper's mind was... _dragon_.

He had only the time to think of this when the dragon leapt, knocking the flashlight out of his hands, grabbing the collar of his vest with its teeth and dragging him away from the light source at a run. Dipper was frozen in fear. He was sure that this was it, he was going to die.

He pictured the newspaper headlines, _Missing Boy Still Not Found_. _Suspected Runaway_ , perhaps. _City Boy Loses His Grip In The Wild. Search Party Gives Up Looking For Useless, Lost Boy_.

Then his mind flashed briefly to Mabel. How would she react when he didn't come back? She would miss him, he knew. Would anyone else? Would Grunkle Stan care? Wendy? Soos would, most likely. He thought of Mabel again, and guilt came over him. If he had to leave Mabel, he didn't want it to be like this. Not now. They should have grown up together, become adults together, been grumpy old people together. She shouldn't have to do the rest of her growing up alone on his account.

All this went through his mind in the fifteen seconds before his brain registered sunlight. The dragon tossed him to the ground unceremoniously. Dipper blinked furiously, the light blinding him for a moment. The dragon, impatient, gave a mighty roar in his ear. Dipper cringed, wrapping his arms around his head. _Great, now I'm blind_ and _deaf_.

The dragon pushed him to his feet and roared again. Dipper stumbled away, eyes nearly adjusted to the light once more. He made his way as fast as he could to a tree before plopping down behind it, bringing his knees to his chest, waiting for the sunlight to calm down and his heart to stop threatening to explode. His breath was ragged and shallow.

When his eyes adjusted, his first thought was to run. Then he worried that the dragon might follow him back to the Mystery Shack; what if he had awoken something that would prove deadly to everyone? He pulled the journal out of the inner pocket of his vest, flipping through it frantically. He got to the end without finding anything; he must have missed it in his hurry, it _had_ to be in here. He turned page after page, skimming, hoping to find even a mention of dragons in Gravity Falls.

He suddenly paused, realizing that he was feeling the breath of something over his shoulder. He shakily glanced out of the corner of his eyes, and it was there, big and black.

He jumped and gave a yell, scrambling away, still on the ground, clutching the book to his chest and looking the dragon in the eye. Its pupils had become more rounded, and was looking him up and down curiously, as if reevaluating him.

Dipper could see most of the creature now. The black scales he had seen on its face covered its whole body, except for the leathery folds of its wings. It stepped closer, and Dipper dared not move. He dared not breathe. The creature's face was inches from his. It took a whiff of the boy on the ground, humming inquisitively.

It stated into his eyes for several moments. Dipper held the dragon's gaze for a while, but then his brain started to feel fuzzy. He blinked furiously.

The dragon's pupils suddenly turned to slits again, it's eyelids dropping to give it an almost human look of disinterest. It gave a loud snort of disgust before bounding away gracefully, like a great winged cat.

Dipper stayed where he was for a few seconds. He cautiously got to his feet, wondering at the fact that he was still alive.

Then he ran.

* * *

"Mabel! You're back!" Dipper gasped, slowing down his sprint clumsily.

"Hey Dipper!" His sister greeted him with her great, shining smile. "What's wrong? You look like you've run here all the way from Jupiter."

She laughed at her own comment, but in fact, Dipper had not stopped running since he left the cave.

"Upstairs, now," he said, then grabbed her hand and dragged her into the Mystery Shack and up the rickety stairs to their bedroom.

Once safe with the door closed, he fell to his knees, breathing heavily.

"Woah, take it easy bro-bro," Mabel helped him to his feet and sat him down on the edge of his bed. "What happened?"

Dipper took another couple of deep breaths before telling Mabel what happened in the forest. She watched him intently. He didn't express his relief at being alive to her, how lucky he realized he was to be sitting next to his twin.

He did not count himself lucky that the first thing his sister said was, "Wow! Let's go find it!"

"What?" His jaw dropped. "Mabel, were you listening? It almost killed me!"

"Yeah, but it didn't!" Mabel responded, smiling.

"Yeah, and I don't want to press my luck," he crossed his arms.

"No, don't you see?" She insisted, "If it wanted you dead, you wouldn't be here right now, right?"

"Right," he admitted, remembering how it felt to be in the dragon's power.

"It just wanted you out of its home, didn't it?" She reasoned.

"So you want to go back and pester it some more?" Dipper followed her train of thought and didn't like where it ended. "Do you want to become dragon-chow?"

"But it's a mystery, Dipper! What are the Mystery Twins for if we don't go poking our noses in other people's business?" She emphasized her point by prodding him in the shoulder with her outstretched finger and saying "Poke."

Dipper brushed her hand away, annoyed, but Mabel wasn't fazed.

"Maybe we can lure it out with a snack!" She suggested, jumping down and pulling her brother's stash of Summerween candy out from under his bed. "What do you think it eats?"

"Children!" He snapped as he yanked the bucket out of her arms. "Mabel, this is literally the _worst_ plan you've ever had!"

"That's an exaggeration," she waved him off gleefully. "Remember the time I tried to mail my video of me sticking a hundred gummy worms up my nose via that omniscient mailbox?"

"I'm serious, Mabel," he put a hand on her shoulder. "That thing's dangerous! Promise me you won't go near it?"

"Aw–"

"Promise?" He insisted.

Mabel frowned. "Fine."

He relaxed, taking his hand off her shoulder.

She grinned innocently, her fingers crossed behind her back.

* * *

A/N: I'm not sure if I will continue this or not. Don't worry, I will post that last chapter I have written in about two weeks. But after that I don't know. I have other fics I have been seriously neglecting, and taking on another might not be the wisest thing.

However, I have been told by people I trust that this is good, and, even if I don't continue, y'all can at least read this. Enjoy!


	3. Chapter 2: Here Be Dragons - REC 01

A/N: I just got back from camp to such supportive reviews! Thank you all so much! I will plan on continuing this, then. Here is the end of what I have written, and the rest will be up to you, as I will explain in the author's note at the end of the chapter. Again, thank you all SO MUCH!

Disclaimer: I don't own Gravity Falls, HTTYD (books or movies), and neither do I own associated characters

* * *

Mabel reflected on how unnatural her silence was as she slid out of bed, trying not to make any noise that would disturb her sleeping brother across the room. The sun had not yet come up, and she felt her way along the wood floor with her bare toes. She threw on a sweater, not heading which it was in dark.

She made her way to the bookshelf, looking up in dismay as she spotted the journal on such a high shelf. She wasn't at a loss for long, though, for she remembered her grappling hook. This would make noise, though. She glanced at Dipper. He would probably still be out for another hour unless she messed up now. She pondered for a moment, aimed, and fired.

The hook knocked the book from its balance, and it teetered until she drew the line back, causing the hook to push the book from the shelf. Moving quickly, she caught the heavy book just as it was about to hit the ground. She sighed in relief, and, sparing her still snoring brother one last glance, then gleefully tip-toed out of the attic.

She was careful not to let the stairs creak as she made her way down, but after descending she ran, heedless of any sound, confident that it would not matter to the unconscious Dipper above.

The Shack would seem creepy to anyone else at night, and sometimes it looked so even to Mabel; however, in the early hours of the morning, it seemed bristling with an excited energy, wondering what was in store for this new day. Or maybe that was just Mabel.

The only person she passed on her way out was Grunkle Stan, who was also getting ready for a new day. He had repurposed much of the large house into a tourist trap, with all kinds of faked oddities.

"Hey kiddo," he greeted Mabel, readjusting the fez on his head. "Why're you up so early?"

"I'm sneaking out with Dipper's journal so he doesn't stop me," she answered with an angelic smile.

"Sounds reasonable," was Grunkle Stan's response.

"Make sure he follows me, m'kay? I'll be leaving a trail of confetti."

"Confetti might blow away," Stan noted. "Use something heavier."

"Ooh! I have rhinestones!" She pulled a handful out of her pocket– kept safely for occasions of dire need. This was one of them.

"That'll work," Grunkle Stan nodded approvingly. "Don't get lost!"

"I won't!" Mabel called as she swung the door open. "I have a map!"

Once outside, she flipped through the book to the map that Dipper had showed her the night before, searching for the cave. Once she spotted it, she took a glittery purple-inked pen from her pocket, circled the structure, and wrote: _Here be dragons!_

* * *

The first thing he noticed was that Mabel was gone. That was unusual, but there were a dozen simple explanations. Maybe she was in the bathroom.

Dipper stretched and greeted the morning with a yawn. He swung his legs over the edge of his bed, rubbing his eyes. He slipped his feet into his shoes and threw on his vest and hat. He would wait for Mabel to come back before going to brush his teeth; they had an unspoken agreement not to walk in on each other in the bathroom.

As minutes ticked by, he wondered what was taking her so long. His bored eyes wandered around the room.

Then he noticed the journal was gone.

He slid off the bed, landing his feet in his shoes and grabbing his vest and hat from the bedpost. The sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach weighed him down as he rushed down the stairs.

"Grunkle Stan!" Dipper called even before he entered the gift shop. "Where's Mabel?"

"In the forest probably," was not the reply Dipper had wanted, but it was the one he expected.

He shouted wordlessly before running outside, not listening to what Stan was calling after him. He sprinted into the trees, only stopping when he tripped over his untied shoelaces.

Stopping to to fix his laces, his heart pounding, he realized that he didn't know where he was going. He didn't have a map. What if he wasn't able to find her? What if he wasn't able to find her before... He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Then another.

When he opened his eyes again, he noticed the glittery thing on the ground in front of him. It was a shiny, plastic, pink gem, barely the size of his fingernail.

Mabel.

He picked himself up and followed the trail, trying to move quickly but not lose the line of rhinestones in the process. Soon, when he looked up, he realized he knew where he was going, and ran full-speed.

He stopped and nearly tripped into his sister when he caught the stench of rotting fish.

"Dipper! You made it!" Mabel beamed she put down the bucket she was holding and wiped her hands on her skirt.

Dipper gagged. "What _is_ that?"

"Our fish from the lake." Mabel said.

"From the beginning of summer?" He gaped.

"I didn't think we still–" Dipper shook his head. "Never mind. Mabel we gotta go, this isn't a good–"

He stopped when he saw movement from the cave out of the corner of his eye. Mabel whipped around to see what he was looking at. A dark, round nose was snuffling at the edge of the cave. Two cat-like green eyes appeared in the dark; they scanned the forest before looking straight into Dipper's.

The boy shuddered. "Mabel, let's go."

He grabbed his sister's hand and tried to lead her away, but she stayed perfectly still. To his horror, she began to pull him and her bucket foreword, towards the dragon's lair. Dipper dug his heels into the dirt, but Mabel was stronger than he was. She sat down right in front of the cave, pulling Dipper down with her.

She smiled at the dark face of the dragon. "Hey there."

The dragon's eyelids dropped, giving it an expression akin to boredom. It snorted, and the hot air blew back the twins' hair.

Mabel pulled the bucket closer to her with the hand that wasn't holding her nervous brother's in a death grip. She pulled out a fish, one of the culprits of the stench, and offered it to the dragon.

The dragon's eyes widened a bit, and Dipper tensed, bracing himself to run and pull Mabel with him. It's nose inched it's way into the light, opening its mouth before the fish to reveal a broad, forked tongue and pink gums.

"Dipper, look, it's toothless," Mabel whispered, still smiling.

Dipper jumped nearly a foot in the air when the dragon's retractable teeth came out as it snatched the fish from Mabel and retreated back into the shadows.

"That's it, time to go," Dipper stood up and tried to drag his sister away, but she sat resolute, her legs crossed.

The dragon came into the light again. Dipper, too scared to move, watched it sniff Mabel up and down, then discover the bucket of fish. It tried twice to stick it's nose in, but it's head was too big; finally it tipped the bucket over and lapped up the fish from the ground.

"See, he eats fish, not people," Mabel smirked back up at her brother.

Dipper wasn't convinced, for the dragon was looking their way again. It had practically inhaled all the fish, and was now looking at them with round eyes. Dipper started to drag Mabel away again, but the dragon was in his face before he could come up with a better reaction than releasing his sister's hand and falling over. He scrambled back as the dragon snuffled, looking for something. Dipper covered his head with his arms.

The dragon looked from Mabel, sitting calmly to its left in front of its cave, to Dipper, curled in a ball to its right. It hummed thoughtfully.

Dipper peeked between his arms to see what was happening, for it sounded like the dragon was choking.

Mabel jumped to her feet and ran to it. "Are you okay? Dipper, do you know how to do the Heimlich?"

"Not on a dra– _eww_ ," he flinched when the dragon spit out two half-chewed fish, covered in saliva.

The dragon didn't seem to think nothing was wrong. It looked from twin to twin expectantly. It nudged a fish towards Mabel, and one towards Dipper, then continued to look at them. It made a smacking noise with its mouth.

"Oh, Dip, it's like a mamma bird," Mabel realized.

Dipper gaped. "Oh my gosh." It was trying to feed them; they had brought it food and it was trying to make sure they had enough too.

It was trying to feed them.

"Eww," Dipper said again.

Mabel stood slowly, and pushed the fish back to the dragon with her foot. "It's okay, we have food, see?" She pulled a fistful of candy out of her pocket and held it up for the dragon to see.

It leaned forward and sniffed the candy, squinting. Mabel unwrapped one and popped it in her mouth, chewing animatedly and smiling.

The dragon sat back on its haunches, watching. Mabel tossed a piece to her brother. He unwrapped it, glancing at the dragon cautiously, and ate it. He realized he _was_ hungry, he hadn't eaten breakfast. The dragon squinted again, then lapped up the fish again.

Mabel ran to a tree and retrieved Dipper's journal. The dragon perked up when he saw the book, and watched the twins with curiosity.

"Mabel, nothing's in here about dragons," Dipper reminded her when she handed it to him.

"So write something new," Mabel handed him a glittery pen.

Dipper opened to one of the blank pages, glancing at the dragon. He shook his head, clicked the pen open, and began to write. He titled the page in large letters, simply _DRAGON_. He considered making it plural, but he didn't know if there were more.

When he looked up, the dragon was right in front of him, watching him write. He swallowed.

"Looks like we got ourselves a nerd dragon," Mabel shoved her brother's shoulder playfully, laughing.

The dragon watched for a minute before it became clear that Dipper wasn't going to write more. It turned away and slunk back into its cave.

"Aww," Mabel stood. "There he goes."

"This was a dumb plan," Dipper said.

"But we're not dead, so it's all good," Mabel shrugged. "I'm hungry, let go each lunch."

Dipper blinked. "Just like that? We're just gonna go? We just faced a dragon."

"And it was awesome, and I'm hungry." She grabbed the empty bucket and swung it as she began to walk. "Come on."

Dipper scrambled up and followed, glancing back once. He could swear he saw green eyes looking at them from the cave for just a second.

* * *

"So what are you gonna put on those pages?" Mabel asked as they sat on the roof of the shack.

Dipper took another bite of his sandwich and thought. He swallowed and said, "I don't know. I wouldn't know where to start."

"Just write like you have with other stuff," Mabel shrugged.

Dipper shook his head. "It's not just– after I found out that the author left secret notes, I've been nervous about accidentally ruining pages. I'm trying to decipher and copy the pages I already wrote over."

"So write your own journal–" Mabel gasped and jumped up excitedly. " _Or_!"

"Or what?" Dipper asked, a little worried.

"I have an idea!" Mabel said.

"That's obvious," Dipper put his sandwich down and nodded. "Shoot."

* * *

[REC 01]

The video begins, and a young boy appears. He has brown hair under his blue and white hat, which bears an image of a pine tree. He smoothed out his maroon shirt and looks at the camera.

He smiles. "Hi, my name is Dipper Pines, and welcome to _Dipper's Guide to Deadly Dragons_."

"That's not the name we agreed on!" A girl's voice says from behind the camera.

Dipper ignores her. "In the cave behind me lives the dragon of Gravity Falls, which is what we'll be studying."

Behind the boy, a creature emerges from the cave, blinking its big green eyes curiously.

"Hi boy!" The girl holding the camera runs past Dipper to the black salamander-like creature.

The creature looks into the camera, sticking its nose in and sniffing. The girl giggles, and the boy says, "Mabel, don't let it get the camera!"

Mabel's hade reaches to pat the creature's nose, and it hums cheerfully.

"Give me the camera–" the boy takes the camera and swings it so that his face is visible, while a girl in a sweater scratches the creature behind him. "This is the dragon behind me; it wasn't in the Journal I have, so we know nothing about it."

"We know he eats fish and likes his tummy rubbed!" Mabel puts in.

"Yes, thank you," Dipper says. "We still have loads of questions, and we barely know where to start! So we want your help: send us your questions, and we'll answer them best we can. Sound good?"

Behind him, the girl has been scratching the dragon's head. She reaches a spot under its chin, and it collapsed to the ground and growls contentedly. "Dipper, look what I did!"

Dipper turns around, bringing the camera in front of his face. "Woa, how'd you do that?"

"Listen, he's purring!" She strikes the dragon's head some more.

Dipper turns the camera to show his face again. "I'm gonna end this here. See you next time!"

"And send us name ideas!" Mabel shouts.

"Mabel, it's a dragon, it doesn't need a name," Dipper says as he turns the camera and hits the off-switch.

* * *

A/N: Well, you heard the man! If you have requests, comments, questions, or critiques, leave a review or pm me!

How this will work, in theory, is: you wil leave a situation prompt or a question for Dipper (I hope that's not to corny to try but here we go) in a pm to me or at the end of your review. Then I will write a chapter around that prompt/where Dipper attempts to get the answer to your question. If I need to say it, and I hope I don't but I will, I'll make it clear now that the rating needs to stay no higher than K+, and if I feel that you're request is not within those boundaries I will politely decline by PM (if you're logged in) and/or delete the review in which the prompt was requested (if that's how you requested it); basically if you don't think it would make it past the dreaded Disney Censors then don't post it. Maybe if my sister were to leave a review then I could give you an example review and chapter (wink wink Neverland8).

I eagerly await your responses!

(Also if you're following The Impossible Dream as well I'm aiming for a new chapter this Tuesday, I apologize for neglecting you.)

Thanks!

~Nightstar


	4. REC 02

Disclaimer: I don't own zilch ok

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Prompt: "Hey Dipper why don't you just make it another "Dipper's Guide to the Unexplained"? Also Mabel you said that it wasn't the title you agreed on, what was the name you agreed on? Iknow they're not questions about the dragon, but they are questions I want answered." —Pegasus Device (anon)

Prompt: "Ooh! Ooh! I got one! How big/wide are the wings?" —Wingsong5555

Prompt: "I got a question! How long is the tail?" —Pegasus Device (anon)

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[REC]

"Hello!" Dipper greets the camera, "Welcome to Dipper's Guide to Deadly Dragons! This episode is our first time answering a questions– really, really exciting."

"Dipper screamed really high pitch!" Mabel added, popping up from behind her brother.

"What! No–" he protested.

"Did too!" Mabel poked him in his ribs, laughing.

"Stop that," he brushed her hand aside. "But seriously," he returned his gaze to the camera. "Thank you for all your support and many, many questions!"

"You guys are _fantasmical_!" Mabel threw her arms up in glee.

"Okay," Dipper pulls a printed paper out of the inner pocket of his vest and begins to read. "Pegasus Device asked why we didn't just make these videos a part of Dipper's Guide to the Unexplained. Excellent question, I'm glad people who enjoyed those came back." He addresses the camera. "Well, we knew this mystery couldn't be wrapped up in a single video, unless it was, like, a ninety-eight minute movie.* So we decided to make it a series of its own, just about the dragon."

"And you also asked what the original name we agreed on was," says Mabel. "It was 'Dipper and Mabel's Guide to Amazing, Mysterious, Adorable, and Possibly-Deadly Dragons.' Dipper thought it was too long," she rolls her eyes.

"Way too many adjectives!" Dipper shakes his head. He looks to the camera. "Now that the talking questions are out of the way, we'll get to an action question."

Mabel holds up a tape measure, a wild grin on her face.

"Wingsong5555 asked for the dragon's wingspan," Dipper continues, "and Pegasus Device asked for the length."**

"And we're gonna find out right now!" Mabel shouts. She turns her back to the camera, toward the dragon's cave, as Dipper runs behind the camera, taking it up and following his sister.

"Here, dragon, dragon, dragon," she makes clicking noises with her tongue, as if calling a cat.

"Mabel, you can't–" Dipper begins, but when the round, black face of the dragon slowly pushes it's way out of the dark, he stops. "Never mind."

"Good dragon!" Mabel turns to toss a tape measure to Dipper, then begins to scratch the dragon's neck. She backs away, luring it into the sunlight.

Dipper walks to her side, taking the end of the measuring tape from her. As he begins to move along the dragon's length, it turns to him and sniffs the camera loudly.

"Hey! Pay attention to me instead," Mabel says, grabbing the dragon's face and turning it back to hers. The dragon blinked confusedly while Mabel pressed her forehead against his.

"Uh–" Dipper begins to say, "You know what, no, do your thing."

Mabel draws the dragon out further from its cave, slowly but surely, holding the box part of the measuring tape out so that it had a straight path to her brother. He stands at the other end of the dragon, refocusing the camera on the tape measure while the sleek, black body of the dragon passed.

When its tail passed into view, Dipper said, "Okay, lock the tape!"

He swung the camera around to capture his sister's face when she exclaimed, "Wow!"

"How long is it?" Dipper asks. The dragon noticed the long line of measuring tape; he lifted his head and perked the two ear-like horn rims atop his head.

"Thirty-five feet!" Mabel answers.***

Dipper lets go of his end of the tape measure, and it snaps back to the box part. The dragon reflexively lurches back from it just before being hit by the tape.

"On to the wingspan," Dipper turns the camera to Mabel. "How are we gonna do this?"

In response, Mabel pokes the dragon to get its attention. It turned to her and blinked.

"Stay," Mabel motions with both hands for the dragon not to move, and walks to the side of it, the dragon's head turning to follow her. She takes hold the edge of its folded up wing in her right hand and gently walks, causing the dragon to unfold the wing.

Dipper scampers to the front side of the dragon before the wing cuts him off from his sister. By the time he turns, the dragon has understood Mabel's request and is holding his wing open, spread out in all its dark glory. It's basic structure is like a bat's, with slender, muscular veins, and skin stretched between them that is thick and strong. Dipper lets out a soft "Woah," with is only barely caught on audio.

Mabel quickly pulls out the tape from the tape measure, the stiff line wobbling slightly. The end reaches the dragon's body, and it leans down to sniff it suspiciously.

"About thirty-one feet," Mabel says, then retracts the tape with a _snap_.

"Okay," Dipper does the math in his head, "So, wingspan is about sixty-two feet?"***

"Sounds right!" Mabel gives him the thumbs up.

The dragon has folded its wing again, and leans foreward to investigate the tape measure still in Mabel's hand. She demonstrates how it works, pulling the tape out a few inches and then letting it snap back into place. The dragon's eyes widen. She does it again, pulling the tape out farther. This time, the dragon's nose is too close to the top of the case, and when Mabel lets go it smacks his snout. The dragon leaps back, alarmed.

"Whoops," Mabel says. She puts out her free hand, approaching slowly. "It's okay."

In a blur, the dragon grabs the tape measure from her in its toothless mouth, then jumps back again.

"Hey!" Mabel exclaims.

The dragon's eyes display playfulness now, the corners of its mouth curving upward in a human-like smile.

"Give," Mabel holds out her hand expectantly, but the dragon darts away through the trees.

Mabel looks at Dipper. "What are we gonna tell Soos?"

"We have to get that back!" Dipper starts running, the view from the camera bobbing up and down.

He holds it up and turns it to show him and Mabel as they run through the woods. "This has been Dipper's Guide to Deadly Dragons, signing off for now!"

"Where'd he go?" Mabel asks offscreen. The camera is pointing to the ground as Dipper finds the off button.

"How's a dragon that big move so fast?" asks Dipper, just before the video ends.

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* The run time of _How to Train Your Dragon_ is 98 minutes; this was my poor attempt at being clever ;)

** I only now realized you asked for the length of the _tail_ , but I did the math for the other thing so maybe I'll go back and do that.

*** I feel like I should defend my math here.

According to How To Train Your Dragon Wiki, Toothless' length in the first film was 26 ft, and in the second film was 27 (This info was on the Night Fury page, not Toothless' page, if you want to double check). At 27 he's a "fully grown" dragon, so I reasoned that he wouldn't grow at the same rate after that. I did calculate what would happen if he did grow 1ft/5yrs, and was planning on using that until realizing that by the time Dipper and Mabel were born, Toothless would be bigger than a blue whale. So I just picked 35 and went with that.

As for the wingspan, I used the Wikia's information (48 ft in the second film) to make a ratio and got about a 62 feet wingspan for a 35 foot length.

If you want to debate my guestimation, go ahead, no where am I saying it's canon. I'm going to be rolling with this though.

A/N: Thank you all for the support and questions! Unanswered questions will be answered in future. As well as the names question, I should resolve this soon. I do have a plan, but it does require a temporary name for the twins to give him. So your suggestions are still needed, as well as any more questions for the twins!

Thanks for your time!


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